Prince Caspian and the Fall of Home
by taokiomi93
Summary: Sequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Recording Studio. Pipa and Aideen have been away from Narnia for over a year, and suddenly they're home. Reunited with Edmund and the others, Pipa feels safe and happy once more. But nothing is ever as it seems. EdOC
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**

* * *

  
**

_A young man, his hair and eyes black as night, was being pursued by soldiers atop mighty steeds. His life depended on his escape._

Run…

_He sped across the Narnian countryside, heading straight into the Western Wood. The soldiers' horse's stalled for a moment. Their leader turned back to them. _

"_Which of you superstitious old women wants to spend the night in the cell?" he demanded; his Spanish accent was thick._

_He took off into the Western Wood once more, after the boy. The other soldiers quickly followed him. _

Hurry up, boy!

_A single wailing ocarina was the underscore of the young lad's journey as he continued through the dark wood. He turned his head to see if he was being followed, only to be smacked off his horse by a tree branch. His foot caught in the stirrup, he was dragged through the autumn leaves until he freed himself. He lay still, stunned, in a clearing._

GET UP! You're right by a home! Get help!

_Clearly the boy had never seen a Narnian burrow before, because, when two dwarves opened the small door, he sat up and pulled himself away in fright. _

"_He's seen us," the shorter of the two gasped._

_The blonde dwarf started towards him with a small sword drawn, going in for the kill, until he was something. The horn of Queen Susan, the Gentle, had fallen from the boy's cloak._

_The soldiers seemed to be arriving just in the nick of time. The blonde dwarf looked at the black-haired one._

"_You take care of him," he said, motioning to the young man as he took off towards to soldiers._

_The black haired dwarf started towards him. Being frightened for his life beyond all reason, the boy crawled towards the horn and picked it up._

"_NO," the dwarf cried._

_The young man put it to his lips and blew…_

I started, bolting up in my bed. That dream had been too real. Susan's horn still rang in my ear.

"It's just a dream, Pipa," I mumbled to myself, lying back down, "Go back to sleep…"

It had begun.


	2. Chapter 1

**The Chronicles of Narnia**

_Prince Caspian and the Fall of Home_

* * *

**Chapter One: Home is Where the Heart Is**

**

* * *

  
**

"Mama, Mama," Aideen chirped, jumping around in her little Tinkerbelle swimsuit, "Up, up, pease!"

"OK, Baby," I cooed, scooping her up from the sand and spinning.

Aideen shrieked with her bell-like laughter, her bright green eyes closed with delight. I smiled, bringing her little body close to me. She grabbed tight to my red bikini top, snuggling into my bosom. We were at the beach with Bethany.

Amazingly enough, Bethany believed the whole story that Mr. Thompson and I told her, and she even offered up the solution to my baby problem. Since we couldn't possibly convince my mother that the baby was mine, Beth thought Mr. Thompson could keep her for me, and I could just say she was his niece. It worked out fine, and I got to see her whenever I wanted. I would take shifts galore at the store, and "babysit" Aideen on the weekends, pretending Mr. T had business to attend to. Getting her medical insurance and Health Card was a little interesting, but we put me down as her mother for that, making her a citizen of Canada, sort of. No one had really asked any questions.

There was no way in hell that my mother would have believed that I was _Grand Princess Phillipa_ the Passionate, Voice of the People, and the loyal wife of King Edmund the Just. To my mom, I had been her virgin 15-year-old who liked work a little too much, and never had any confidence in herself. Now, I was her smiley, confident 16-year-old, who liked working _way_ too much, and love babysitting to top it all off. She checked me for a fever when I brought home the red bikini and black short shorts with a golden lion on the side to cover some more of my body. Beth had picked it for me, and I had loved it, but I could tell my mother hated it.

"Your breasts are looking so uncovered, Pipa," she'd said, eying the swimwear with discomfort, "It's not like you at all."

_It's not like the child you knew, but I'm a woman, not that child,_ I'd thought to myself.

My mother had always been the person I'd always been closest to, and I'd lost her when I went to Narnia. I lost everyone that I had been close to before. My friends were still teenagers, but I was a full-grown woman, a mother of four, and a wife. I was who I am, trapped inside of who I was.

Pipa, the teenager, never had the confidence, eloquence, and heart that Pipa the woman had. The girl never felt that _love_ that the woman did. She didn't know what it was like to be a part of someone, mind, body, and soul. She didn't know what it was like to lay everything you are in front of a man, have him love everything you are, and love everything he is in return. She didn't know what it felt like to conceive and carry _life_ inside of her, and love it before its heart was beating. She didn't have someone to wake up to every morning, even after carrying one, two, three, four children, just for them to verbally and physically remind her how hot she was to them.

That girl didn't have Edmund.

When I was in Narnia, I grew with the love of my life, and I married to love of my life, and had children with the love of my life. Then, when all of that was stripped from me, and I only had one or two things connecting me to it, I didn't belong in Phillipa O'Brien's world anymore. I was Phillipa Pevensie, and my heart ached when I had to pretend be Phillipa O'Brien.

It'd been just over a year since I'd truly been home.

"Pipa," Beth called from her towel, adjusting the top of her golden bikini, "I'm going to the bathroom; be right back."

"OK," I smiled at my platinum blonde friend, "Aidie and I might just go exploring for a little while, and so if we're not back, don't bother chasing us."

"'Kay," she grinned over her shoulder, "Try not to get swept off your feet by a modern-day prince! Save him for me, instead!"

I could only laugh as she took off towards the beach house like a Marilyn Monroe incarnate, men turning to drool as she did. I had to hand it to her, though; she certainly knew how to attract attention.

"Mama," Aideen cried, "Papa!"

I grinned down at my little girl, sitting my butt down in the sand. With her in my lap, I reached into our bag and pulled out my wallet and my black pullover hoodie. Inside the wallet was an adorable picture of a 15-year-old Edmund and I, kissing while Ed held the camera to take the photo; a picture of Aideen was in the picture slot next to it. Aideen gurgled happily, taking the wallet from me as I pulled the hoodie over my head.

As a final goodbye to the world I thought I'd never see again, Edmund and I had gone through everything that had been lying on our bedroom floor the night of the coronation, and used everything electronic until the battery died. We took tones of pictures with my digital camera.

When I returned to my mother's home, and went through everything in that black bag. Everything was still dead, so I charged it all. When I stuck my memory card in the computer, every picture we took was on it. I'd wanted to cry.

I did cry.

So, I'd printed out my favorite picture of Edmund and I, and stuck it in my wallet. Not much else I could have done without attracting unwanted attention.

Almost as suddenly as I had delved into the memory was I pulled from it by a horrible pinch to the backside. I howled, grabbing Aideen and leaping to my feet. I wheeled around, only to have a crap load of sand blown up into my face.

"BETH! That's not…! …Beth?"

There was no one there. There was no one anywhere. The beach was deserted, and the wind kept howling. I grabbed up my black messenger bag, and Aideen clung to me, frightened for her life. It was almost like a sandstorm.

_What is this? _I wondered, trying to shield Aideen from the sand.

It felt like magic.

A familiar ocarina began to play its tune in my ear, only it was wailing this time. Long, loud, and miserable were the only words that could describe the noise it made. Aideen began to shriek with it. Faster and faster, the wind blew me onto my back!

Suddenly, it stopped.

As Aideen continued to wail, I shushed her, not even taking in my surroundings.

"It's OK, Aidie," I cooed to her, my heart racing, "You're alright baby. It's OK; you're alright…"

Aideen continued to sniffled, a little shaken still, as I sat up, looking around me. We were in a cave of some sort. My mind went blank when the scent of Narnian saltwater hit my nose.

_What?_

I scrambled to my feet, Aideen clinging to my sweater. I looked towards the entrance of the cave, crystal blue water and white sand meeting my gaze. I slowly walked through the sand, hardly believing what my mind was telling me. The scene I was met with outside to cave was enough to knock the bravest of humans of their feet. Aideen looked at me, then out at the ocean, her pretty green eyes wide with amazement as the salty air ruffled her black curls.

Gorgeous laughter and the splashing of water broke me from my trance. My gaze turned just up the beach, and I saw four teenagers playing around in the shallow water, all adorned in 1940's British school uniforms. A pretty little red-head, a slender brunette, a tall young blonde man, and another, almost as tall, young man with shaggy black hair…

The little girl turned in my direction in order to avoid a splash from the brunette, and she stopped dead. The slender girl followed suit, and the blonde man stopped as well. The handsome one with his dark hair stopped as well, turning around to face me.

His dark eyes widened, his pale pink lips dropping into a perfect "o" shape. A pressed white shirt clung to the sleek muscles of his perfect, almost elfin, body as he stepped out of the water. I started off on a slow walk towards him.

As if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, he began a slow walk as well. The little red-head waited only an instant before taking off on a run, pulling the brunette girl and blonde boy with her. They skidded to a stop in the sand, examining me from all angles as I dropped my messenger bag in the sand, their eyes wide. Aideen reached out for the red-head, who gingerly reached back.

"You can hold her, Lucy," I said finally, placing Aideen in the arms of her, apparently young, aunt, "She may have finished teething, but she doesn't bite."

"Are you really here? I mean…" Susan muttered to herself, reaching out but not quite touching me.

"It sure looks like you," Peter smiled, looking at Aideen in Lucy's arms, "Sure looks like you, too."

"I'm still debating as to whether or not this is a dream," I chuckled nervously, tears threatening to spill.

Almost soundlessly, someone pushed past Susan and Peter, their strong, gentle arms enveloping me. A soaking wet, white, now wrinkled, shirt stuck to the owner's toned body as he held me close, gripping onto me like I was disappearing. My lips were soon graced with a passionate, love-filled kiss.

"If this is some sort of bloody trick, just kill me now," Edmund whispered to me, his dark eyes boring into my green ones as sobs shook his body, "Pipa... My sweet Pipa..."

Held in my love's arms, I felt safe and warm. I discovered that I had had a huge weight on my chest, because I suddenly felt light as a feather. I quickly joined my husband in tears of relief and happiness.

"Edmund," I sobbed.

I was home.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Ruins**

* * *

After Edmund and I had finally released one another, I had been nearly crushed by Peter, Susan, and Lucy. Edmund had taken Aideen into his arms with fresh tears in his eyes. I hadn't seen Aideen so happy in a long time.

After I had gotten my air back, it hadn't taken Edmund long to grab hold of me with an arm, Aideen in the other, and run us all off into the ocean. The others quickly joined us, all smiling and laughing. Aideen had never been in the ocean, so she had clung to her father for dear life.

"Papa!" she squealed as the water salt water brushed her skin, "Cold!"

Everyone quickly stopped whatever they were doing.

"She can talk…?" Edmund asked, a small smile growing into a huge grin, "That's my girl! I'm so proud of you!"

"'Papa' was her first word," I grinned, wrapping my arms around my husband's waist from behind, "She said it when she was holding my engagement ring. Then 'Mama', and then 'cold'."

Lucy came towards us, smiling from ear to ear.

"Want to come and play with Auntie Lucy, Aidie?" she asked brightly.

Aideen reached for her aunt, clearly more comfortable, and Edmund passed off our laughing baby girl.

"Now I can hold you properly," he chuckled, quickly removing my grip to wrap his arms around me from behind.

Edmund took my left hand gently with his left hand, and I could see our rings sparkling in the sunlight.

"It still fit my finger when I left," he murmured in my ear, his voice warm and smiling for him, "I never took it off. Not once."

"What did people say when they saw it?" I asked, giggling when he nibbled my ear affectionately.

"They wanted to know who was so special," he explained, resting his head on my shoulder, "And I told him that she was the most beautiful, most wonderful, most perfect woman in this world and the next."

"Well," I smiled, turning around to face him in his arms, "She must be very special."

"Oh, she is," Ed whispered, smiling mischievously and claiming my lip in another passionate kiss.

When we separated, we gazed at each other for the longest time, every lost moment returning to us. The others called to us, and we looked at them.

"Quite being so God-damned mushy and get your asses over here," Peter called, laughing all the while, "We can't have long lost family time without the two of you!"

"For goodness sakes, Peter, mind your own business," I called back.

"Come on," Edmund smirked, wrapping an arm around me, "Let's drown him for that."

I laughed, running ahead of him in order to full on tackle my brother-in-law into the water. We all got into another big water war, passing Aideen around to whoever wanted to play with her. We soon noticed that Edmund hadn't joined us.

"Honey," I yelled, turning towards him, "Come on!"

Ed didn't move. He was too busy staring up the cliff side.

"Ed?" I said, quickly going to his side.

"Hey, where do you suppose we are?" he asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Isn't it obvious?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, but I don't remember any ruins in Narnia," he said.

We all followed his gaze up the cliff, and noticed that he was right. There were ruins up the cliff.

"Let's go see what it is," Lucy suggested, running with Aideen towards the path that lead to them.

We all followed.

When we reached our destination, a wave a familiarity hit us all. Even Aideen grew silent. Lucy handed Aideen back to me as she went off to explore. Susan and Peter soon split from us, and Edmund and I took off in another direction.

Everywhere we looked, there were ruined stone steps and wings of, what appeared to be, a castle. I knew this place, but I just couldn't remember from where.

Lucy stood at, what would have once been a balcony, and looked out onto the strangely familiar view.

"I wonder who lived here," she said, turning back into everyone's general direction.

"I think we did," I heard Susan reply slowly as Ed and I rounded a corner to reach her.

"Hey, that's mine," Edmund cried, pointing at the golden chess piece Susan held, "From the chess set you gave me, Pipa."

"Which chess set?' Peter asked, joining the four of us.

"Well, I didn't exactly giving him a solid gold chess set in Finchly, did I?" I stated, rolling my eyes as Ed took the piece from Susan.

Lucy turned her head to look out at something and stopped dead.

"It can't be," she whispered, running off.

"Lucy," I called as we all began to follow her.

We reached a huge stone platform, with remnants of 4 pedestal chairs on it. Lucy ran up the stone steps, and we all followed.

"Don't you see?" she cried.

"What?" Peter asked.

Lucy gave an exasperated sigh, grabbing Peter and setting him in front of the largest remaining chair. She moved Susan to his left, and Edmund and I to the right. She placed herself to Susan's left. Aideen gurgled curiously in my arms.

"Imagine walls," she commanded, "And columns there, and a glass roof."

As we all stood, images flooded back to my brain. I could see a grand hall, decorated in red and white, golden roses everywhere. I saw people and mythical creatures everywhere. My mind flashed to three young children running up a red carpet, the oldest, Angela, leaping onto Edmunds lap as he sat at the throne, and the two boys, Henry and David, hugging my lower half, causing the skirt of my red gown to poof out around them.

"It's…" Peter trailed.

"…Cair Paravel," I finished, tears in my eyes.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Dear Little Friend

* * *

Edmund and I wandered through the ruins with Aideen, desperate to find out what had happened to our other children. Peter, Susan, and Lucy struggled to keep up with us, tripping every so often.

"Ed, Pipa, slow down," Peter commanded, "This won't get us anywhere, and we need to stay together."

"We'll slow down when we know where the children went," Edmund turned and shouted fiercely at his brother, then muttered to himself, "We're not together until we find them…"

"Edmund, it's been at least 100 years," Susan reasoned, her voice strained with pain, "If they're not dead, then they're close to it."

Those words struck me like a knife in the heart. My entire being was swallowed with a burning agony, and Aideen's little body was my only comfort.

"Dead…?" I murmured, tears falling down my cheeks, "…My children…dead…?"

My knees grew weak and quickly gave way, causing me to fall onto my bottom on a grassy incline. Aideen shrieked fitfully from the sudden movement. Edmund was beside my shaking form in a sheer instant, cooing to Aideen and rubbing my back comfortingly. His own hands and voice were trembling.

"No, they're fine," I wailed, holding Aideen close and clinging tightly to Edmund's shirt, "Oh God, oh God; it's not true! It can't…It can't be true! Edmund, it's not true! TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE! Tell me they're not…!"

I couldn't even finish. Aideen's fitfully tears grew louder, as though she completely comprehended to magnitude of our situation.

"Pipa, please don't cry," Peter pleaded, only making me wail louder, "Ed, do something!"

"What do you want me to do?" he practically screamed back.

This silenced everyone. When Edmund was a child, he'd been known to shout, but, as a king, he hardly raised his voice. I couldn't remember that last time I'd heard him shout. Even Aideen had quieted.

"It's alright, Dear," Edmund said softly to me, "Come on, we'll keep looking. There's no point in just sitting here."

I nodded slowly, knowing my husband spoke truth. I allowed Edmund to pull me to my feet and take Aideen. We continued walking for a few feet, until Edmund stopped in front of a large boulder. He bent down, examining it.

"Catapults," he murmured.

"What?" Peter asked.

"This didn't just happen," Edmund explained, "Cair Paravel was attacked."

It was then I noticed a wall just beyond us, still in tact. Peter saw it too, and he rushed towards it. We quickly followed, and watched as he pushed a large stone slab off the wall, only to reveal a door.

When Peter tried to open it, we discovered that the door had rusted shut. Peter took out a pocket knife and began fiddling with it. Edmund just sighed and passed me Aideen, pushing him out of the way. In one swift motion, he kicked down the door. It was complete darkness within, only stairs leading into oblivion visible. Peter then grabbed up a large stick and ripped off the bottom of his shirt. He looked at my bag.

"I don't suppose you have any matches in there, do you?" he asked.

"Well, no," I snickered, "But I do have this."

I pulled a flashlight out of my bag, much to Peter's comical displeasure.

"Well, you might have mentioned that a bit sooner," he chuckled, throwing his stick down.

Edmund took the flashlight, leading us down the stairs carefully. When we reached the bottom, we couldn't believe our eyes.

"I can't believe it's all still here," Peter gasped, looking around.

We saw the only thing that remained of the castle's basement, a makeshift shrine area of sorts. There were four indents in the wall, each with its own statue and a large stone trunk. There was one of Lucy, tall, slender, and gorgeous, and another of Susan, ever beautiful as it had been before. Beside Susan's turret was Peter, standing tall and magnificent.

The last one was a statue of Edmund and I together, a wrapped up infant in my arms. It was odd for me, to see myself as I was. Edmund's statue had a cool, regal look on its face, while mine smile gracefully, a motherly aire about her. We all rushed to our chests and opened them.

"I was so tall," I heard Lucy marvelling.

"Well, you were older then," Susan chuckled.

"As opposed to hundreds of years later, when you're younger," Edmund chuckled, sitting his old war helmet upon his head, which was hysterically too large for him, "Hey, Honey, look at this."

"I told you, you had a swelled head," I smiled, setting Aideen by my feet to look in the chest.

I quickly found my old brown hose with my lilac tunic and black boots, so I pulled them out of the trunk.

"$20 says they still fit," I giggled, excitement rushing through me.

"Well, put them on," Edmund encouraged, pulling out his own blue tunic with his black hose and boots.

I shamelessly shed all forms of modern clothing, except for my bikini. Edmund was watching me the whole time, a clear aire of pleasure about him. I frowned up at him when I bent to grab my tunic off the floor. Aideen quickly pulled my short-shorts onto the top of her head like a hat.

"What?" I asked Edmund plainly as I pulled the tunic over my head.

"I'd nearly forgotten how beautiful you are," he chuckled, mostly to himself as he unbottoned his own shirt.

"Well," I smirked, "How beautiful am I?"

On cue, my string bikini top hit the stone floor, and Edmund smirked in turn, going back to changing. Don't be shocked; I grew out of the only bra I'd owned sortly after we arrived in Narnia, so I'd had to go with a bodice. But, since I had a fitting bra in my bag, and was not going to wear a dress, I simply pulled on the underwear I'd had in my bag.

Everything still fit, which didn't surprise me. Edmund's clothes from when he was grown fit him perfectly, since he really stopped growing after his 16th birthday. He still filled the clothes well too, obviously having kept up his preferred fitness.

I scooped Aideen off the floor and took my shorts off her head, tossing them into my bag. I quickly found an old infant's sling and Edmund helped me seccure Aideen to my back, her little head about to peak out over my shoulder. Peter, Susan, and Lucy had found their old clothes as well, but something seemed to be bothering Susan.

"What is it?" Lucy asked her.

"My horn," Susan muttered, "I must have left on my saddle the day we went back…"

As Peter pulled his old clothes out, he came across his shield. Blowing away the dust, he read the inscription for us all to hear.

"When Aslan bears his teeth, winter meets his death," he recited.

"And, when he shakes his mane, we will have spring again," Lucy finished, "Everyone we knew, Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers, they're all gone…"

I saw that Edmund had decided quickly to tune them out, still in a state of denial. He rummaged through the chest, pulling out our weapons, and suddenly stopped. I peered into the chest, and felt another hurricane of tears spill from my eyes.

At the bottom of that stone chest lay items of our childrens'. Angela's favourite pink dress lay folded and stained with dry blood, her pretty golden tiara lying on top of it. Henry's favorite wooden ship, which Edmund had made for him when he was only 3, was in two pieces beside his dented little crown. David's wooden sword lay at beside it, singed. His own smaller crown had been almost melted, but that wasn't the most disturbing thing. A tiny hand was forever printed on the toy sword's handle.

Edmund wrapped his arms around me, his own tears soaking my hair. I'd never known Edmund to cry, but this was couldn't deny it anymore.

Our children were dead.

I'd come to terms with the thought that I would never see them again when I'd been thrown from Narnia, but this wasn't the same. I felt like it was my fault. It may not have been so bad if they had lived to grow old and bear children of their own, but we knew better. From the looks of things, they died shortly after I left.

Breaking from Edmund, I reached into the chest again. I pulled out a small, white gold and peridot locket, one that the children had had their father arrange as a birthday present for me. I smiled as Edmund took it from me and placed it around my neck as he caressed my flesh comfortingly. He knew I needed to take a piece of them with me.

"Come on," Peter said suddenly, breaking our slight trance, "It's time we found out what's going on here."

When we reached the outdoors, after some arguing with Peter, we opted to go back down to the beach and follow the shore. Susan reasoned that we may find a fishing village. So, we gathered our weapons, bid our other belongings one last, mournful farewell, and left Cair Paravel forever.

* * *

As we headed down the beach in gloomy silence, we noticed something in a bay. Two men in armor, probably soldiers, were sat in a little row boat. In the middle of a high and mighty suggestion from Peter for us to ask them for directions, Aideen gave a horrified little shriek. The two soldiers were holding a dwarf, who was bound and gagged, and were swinging him from side to side.

"Oh my God," I gasped, grasping Edmund's shirt, "Their going to drown him."

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Susan replied, launching an arrow.

As we took off towards them, I saw the arrow hit the side of the boat. The soldiers looked in our direction, and stopped dead. They kind of stared at us as Susan drew back another arrow.

"Drop him," Susan cried, obviously in an attempted threat.

Edmund pinched the bridge of his nose at that one as we all turned to look at her. What did Susan think they were doing? Aideen cutely copied her father's actions. The dwarf didn't look too pleased by the choice of words either, because he was soon tossed over the edge of the boat.

Peter quickly stripped his sword and took off on a run towards the water. One of the soldiers picked up a crossbow, and Susan wasted no time shooting him in the chest. As his dead comrade fell into the bay, the other soldier abandoned ship, swimming away for his life. By the time Peter came up with the dwarf, Edmund had to boat back in and the girls and I were rushing towards him. Lucy and I quickly set to work, cutting him free. I cut his gag, only for him to say…

"Drop him? DROP HIM! That's the best you can come up with?"

"A simple 'thank you' would suffice," Susan frowned.

"Well, they were doing a fine job drowning me without your help," he snapped.

"Maybe we should have let them," Peter spat back at the snarky dwarf.

"Put the gag back, Dear," Ed told me jokingly.

"Why were they trying to kill you?" Lucy asked sweetly, glaring at her brothers.

"Their Telmarines," the dwarf grumbled, "That's what they do?"

"Telmarines?" Edmund nearly gasped, "In Narnia?"

I was surprised as well. The Telmarines were a violent people, and had normally kept to their own country. Why they would be in Narnia, drowning Narnians, for that matter, was beyong me.

The dwarf gave my husband a look as if to say, "Well, DUH!"

"Where have you lot been for the last few hundred years?"

"That's a pretty long story," I almost chuckled.

I soon caught Susan handing Peter his sword in my periferal vision. The dwarf stared at it, before giving all of us a good, hard look. His face dropped.

"You've got to be kidding me," he nearly groaned, "You're it? You're the kings and queens of old."

"High King Peter," Peter almost grinned from the recognition, "The Magnificent."

The dwarf and I seemed to snicker in unison. Peter looked like all but the magnificent king he had once been. I could tell he'd maintained the ego, though.

"You probably could have left out that last bit," I gwafed.

"Probably," the dwarf chuckled.

"You might be surprised," Peter said, more-so to the dwarf than me.

Peter drew his sword, and the dwarf looked oddly excited.

"Oh, you don't want to do that, boy," he sneered, emphasising the final word with great finess.

"Not me," Peter simply stated, "Him."

Edmund instantly understood, leaving my side to draw his sword. I felt like mentioning what a dirty trick this was, pitting a battered dwarf against the Sword of Narnia, but both appeared fairly confident. The dwarf looked about as _**un**_-intimidated by Edmund as Edmund did him.

When Peter handed the dwarf his sword, the heavy thing hit the sand with a thump. Edmund and Peter exchanged a glance, but they didn't see the dwarf go straight for Edmund.

"Papa," Aideen squealed, her eyes wide.

Edmund only seemed to wake up in time to have his sword knocked from his hands and for the dwarf to swing his fist. In an instant reaction, from so many years of fight larger opponents, Edmund ducked. I pinched the bridge of my nose as the dwarf got him in the face. Edmund backed off, and each went for their sword.

"Edmund," Lucy cried melodramatically.

"You're rusty, Honey," I called, seemingly the least effected by the whole situation.

"Aww, you alright?" the dwarf taunted him, "Making a right fool of yourself in front of your woman?"

It was then that Edmund got _that_ look on his face. The look that says, "I'm going to impress her, even if it kills me." He and the dwarf circled each other for a moment, before going at it. The dwarf swung, and Edmund lept gracefully into the air, avoiding it with ease. After a small series of expert paries, Edmund successfully knocked Peter's sword from the dwarf's grip. I could tell he was trying not to pant as he placed his sword to the dwarf's throat. The little man fell to the sand, staring at Edmund.

"Beards and bedsteads," he cried, "Maybe that horn worked after all."

"What horn?" Susan asked, suddenly very interested.


End file.
